The Ones You Love
by EternalDreamer-92
Summary: Wesley gets a little visit from the First Evil. Can that visit push him over the edge and make him do the unthinkable? Formerly posted as "Surprise Visit".
1. Visit

Title: The Ones You Love

Summary: Wesley gets a little visit from the First Evil. Can that visit push him over the edge and make him do the unthinkable? (Formerly posted as "Surprise Visit")

Spoilers: Everything up to Lineage.

Timeline: Set after Lineage, except everyone remembers Connor.

Rating: PG

Pairing: Fred/Wesley

Word Count: 1,168

Disclaimer: Pretty much everything except the storyline belongs to Joss Whedon. I own nothing Buffyverse related except for a few DVD's.

Feedback: Much appreciated, but this is my first fic, so please don't be too harsh.

Dedication: To my dad for beta reading this and for helping me with it and giving me some ideas.

Authors Note: This is just an idea that I got one day. I have a few more chapters ready to post, so please tell me if you think I should post them or not. This chapter may be a bit slow, but I promise it'll pick up soon.

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It started out a perfectly normal day. Or at least as normal as it got for them. They all got up. Got dressed. Went to work at Wolfram and Hart. And it stayed normal. Until around two that afternoon…

Wesley was working in his office. He was bent over a book, so absorbed that his office could have caught on fire and he wouldn't have noticed. But then he heard a voice that he hadn't heard in ages. "So, it's true. You're working for Hell, Incorporated." He looked up at the speaker.

"Buffy!" he said with surprise. "I didn't know you were coming here." But then he realized something. Buffy had never been here before, she couldn't know where his office was. Anyone at the front desk would have called him first. "Who told you where my office was?"

"Not to sound like a phone commercial, but I've got people."

"Oh… What _kind_ of people?"

"That doesn't matter right now." She put down the dagger she had been toying with and walked over to Wesley's desk and stood in front of it. "I'm here about someone. You can guess who. The one person in your life who matters more than everyone else."

"Fred," he said without hesitation. Who else could she be talking about?

"That's right," Buffy said as she walked to the other side of his desk and sat down so that she was facing him. "Fred."

"What about Fred? Did something happen while I was up here?" A note of panic was in his voice. If anything had happened to her while he was up here, buried among all his books…

"No, nothing happened to Fred," she said. "At least, not yet…"

"Yet?! What do you mean? What's going to happen to her?!"

"Someone is going to hurt her," Buffy replied calmly.

"Who? Who's going to hurt her?!" He stood up suddenly, knocking some books to the floor. If anyone so much as _thought_ of hurting Fred… He wouldn't give them a half a chance.

"Who's going to hurt her? I thought that much would be obvious."

"Who?! Will Spike hurt her? Harmony? Knox?"

"No."

"Then who?!"

Buffy smiled.

"You."

Wesley fell back into his chair.

"No. No, that can't be right. I would _never_ hurt Fred. Never." He said quietly.

"Oh, really?" Buffy stood up and walked behind his chair. When she came into view again, it wasn't Buffy anymore. It was Billy Blim.

"What about the last time we met? You didn't seem to believe that then." He smirked and walked around Wesley's office, looking at everything.

"No. Tha-that wasn't me. It was something you did to me, something you forced upon me."

"Forced upon you?" He turned back and looked at him. "No, I didn't force it upon you. I merely opened the gates, let out something that you had inside you all along, something that's still in you now, something that will always be in you. And who says that I need to be there to activate it? It could set off at any moment, and if you're near Fred when it sets off, well, who knows? She might end up…" He walked around a few boxes, and when he emerged on the other side, he was Lilah. "…Like me" she finished. "I mean, it _is_ your fault that I'm dead."

"What?" Wesley asked, shocked. "How did I cause your death?"

"Well, if you had just stayed away from people where you belonged, Cordelia wouldn't have had to become a Higher Power just to get away from you. And if she hadn't become a Higher Power, Jasmine wouldn't have latched on, she wouldn't have been possessed, and she wouldn't have killed me." Wesley was shaking his head, muttering. "No, No, I-I didn't… I mean, I never meant to…"

"To kill me? Well, you never meant to hurt Fred either, did you? Fred, or Cordy. But now, I'm dead and Cordy's in a coma. It's a good thing Doyle's not here, or he would…"

Suddenly there was a man with black hair and an Irish accent. Doyle, Wesley guessed, judging from pictures that he'd seen. "...Kill you. Literally." Doyle walked up to Wesley's desk. "I mean, first, right after I died, you show up and try to take my place."

"No, I never meant to take your place, Doyle!"

"Then" he continued as if Wesley hadn't spoken "You go and land Cordy in a coma. And, of course, you helped Holtz take Connor…" Now Holtz was standing there. "Which I really couldn't have done without you. If it wasn't for you, Connor would have lived a happy life, with his father. But, of course, you had to go and mess things up, per usual." Buffy again. "After all, you always hurt the ones you love. So, you see where we're heading." She said as she walked over to Wesley's desk again. "Do you want to hurt Fred?"

"No. Oh, god no."

"Well, then, I think you know what you need to do."

Wesley looked up at her. "What? What do I need to do to keep Fred safe?"

"Kill her."

Wesley stood up again, this time sending paper as well as books everywhere.

"What?! How will killing her keep her safe?!?"

Buffy looked a little surprised at his outburst. "Well, if you kill her, than it will be over with, quick and painless. But just think of what you could do to her if something happened like that thing with Billy again."

Wesley saw, clear as day, the terrified look on Fred's face when he had hunted her down, tracking her through the hotel. But no, killing her… that couldn't be the only way. Then something clicked.

"I know what you are" he said to Buffy. "The First Evil, manipulating me. Just like you've done before."

"Maybe so, but does that make what I said any less true?"

And then, with a flash, the First was gone, and Wesley was alone in his office. But the first had left something behind… Wesley walked over to it and picked it up. He felt the magic wash over him as soon as he picked it up. Dark magic. Very dark. But Wesley wondered… Why had the First left? ... Oh. Of course. He'd best put it down, then. If he allowed the magic to do what it was meant to… He needed to put it down. Yet he found he couldn't. He found himself thinking things he would never think normally. Perhaps he would hurt Fred. No, he couldn't. Well, why not? No, no! If it's between hurting Fred and killing her…No, he wouldn't, he couldn't! It would be easy. Ask Fred to come up, she wouldn't suspect a thing, no, she trusted Wesley completely. Then just aim the gun, and pull the trigger, it will be over with before she could even scream… "No!" Wesley shouted, throwing what the First had left against the wall. He sat down on the floor, trying to let his head clear. He couldn't hurt Fred… Could he?


	2. Wesley's Decision

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing about Buffy or Angel. I have a few _Buffy_ DVD's, and there's some _Angel_ on my DVR, and I have some comics, but nothing that actually matters. I also do not own any part of Harry Potter, it belongs solely to Ms. Rowling, and I make no money off of referencing it.

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in about forever. I had several chapters ready to post, but then my whole computer crashed, and I lost everything (and I do mean everything. That was the computer I had been writing on since I learned how to type. Really sucky. But, enough of my whining). However, I dug through my email history the other day, and I found this! Yay! So, here it is, chapter two, with only slight revisions.

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Wesley was sitting at his desk. Five hours. It had been five hours since the First had visited, and Wesley still couldn't get the visit out of his mind. He had been thinking about it non stop, and he had finally... had finally decided... just what he had to do. He didn't like it. In fact, he hated it. But... but he had realized that it was the only thing that he could do to keep Fred safe. So he had to do it, and as soon as possible.

He knew it would upset many people. He wouldn't be surprised if Lorne started drinking more heavily again. Angel would be mad at first. Gunn probably would, too. But they would realize it was all for the best eventually. After all, they were both reasonable men. And he was going to leave a note explaining everything, since he definitely wouldn't be there afterward. Of course not.

He wondered how his friends in Sunnydale would react. They hadn't been very close before, but they had gotten closer. He had visited them a few times, and vice-versa (A/N yes, I mostly made that part up. Wesley never visited them in Sundydale, and the Scooby Gang didn't really travel up there, except for the Buffster and, of course, Willow. Just work with it). He hoped Giles and Buffy wouldn't think badly of him. But then he remembered what they had done for loved ones...

No, they wouldn't think badly of him. They would understand. Willow and Dawn would definitely be upset. Xander would too, though he would try not to show it.

And Fred... but, no... he needed to stop thinking of her, or he would lose his nerve.

Suddenly he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in" he called warily. Fred walked in with a lot of papers in her arms.

"Hey, Wes. When you get a moment or, like, a dozen, I've got some things for you to translate, and a few papers that came up from the Office of Demonic Congress that Gunn wanted you to take a look at, and a new prophecy just came in, an Angel want's you to take a look at, just make sure it's nothin' to life threatening, ya know? And Angel also want's you to look- Wesley, what's wrong?" she had noticed how Wesley looked. Sad. So sad. And a look of almost... defeat?

"It's nothing Fred, really. Just stressed from work." noticing her disbelieving look, he added "Really. It's nothing big. What were you saying Angel wanted me to do?"

She still didn't look like she believed him, but she continued anyway. "He just wants you to look over this weird goblet thingy he found, see if there's anything magical about it."

"Okay. I'll get right on it. Where was it found?"

"Laying in a field somewhere. Angel said that he smelled blood around where it was, and that it appeared some ritual had been performed there recently."

"Got it. I'll run some tests, see if anything unusual comes up."

"Kay." Fred walked over and put the papers on his desk, then looked at him again. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yes, Fred, really. It's just one of those days."

"Oh. Okay." Fred said, though she didn't sound completely convinced. She looked down at her watch. "Oh, I gotta go. I'm having lunch with Knox."

"Have fun." Wesley said a little sadly. Fred started to leave, and then turned back.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked, concerned.

"Yes, I'm fine, really. You go with Knox, have fun." She still didn't look convinced.

"I'm sure Knox would understand if a canceled. If you want me to stay here, I could…" Wesley smiled slightly.

"Really, Fred. Go and have a good time." She paused for one more moment, and then turned to leave.

"'Kay. I'll go. See you later then?" Wesley tried to keep the pain out of his voice as he replied,

"See you later."

Fred left, once again leaving the room empty, and Wesley alone.


	3. Confession

Disclaimer: I own nothing, Joss owns all, you know the drill.

A/N: Thanks to RabidReject for your review :). Much appreciated. Sorry it took so long to get this out. I meant to post this last Wednesday, but then when I tried it wasn't working, and then life just kind of got in the way. I'll try to get the next one posted sooner. But, anyway, here it is .

Wesley was sitting in his apartment. He got up, and after standing there for a moment, went over to the drawer where he always kept a gun. He stood in front of the drawer for a moment, then opened it and took out the gun. He just held it in his hands for a moment, turning it over as if he was seeing it for the first time and was trying to figure out how to use it. He couldn't hurt Fred. Ever. But… what if something like Billy _did_ happen again? Or what if someone else held Fred at gunpoint and it wasn't a robot? He would kill most anyone to save Fred, anyone that was threatening her. Even himself.

But what if it turned out he was like his father! But, no, that was what differentiated him from his father. His father would do anything to save his own skin, but if it came down to someone his father loved being at risk… well, that couldn't happen, could it? After all, for someone to threaten your loved ones, you had to have someone to love in the first place, something his father was incapable of. No, this was ridiculous! This was just what the First Evil had wanted. Yet he still heard what the First had said.... "Maybe so, but does that make what I said any less true?"

What if the First was right? What if he _did_ hurt Fred? For the second time that day, he saw in his mind the image of Fred, terrified… terrified of him. The things that he could have done to her, the things that he _would_ have done to her then, if he had been able. A quick, painless death seemed almost kind in comparison. But, no, Billy was dead, that couldn't happen again.

But who said Billy needed to be there to cause that to happen? And what if he was sired? Vampires tended to target those they had cared for the most before they died. And he cared for Fred more than anyone, without a doubt. If he was turned into a vampire, he could kill her, or worse, sire her. No. No, that couldn't happen. It just… it just couldn't. Then someone knocked on the door, startling Wesley. "Come in" he called, and then realized that if that was a vampire outside his door… But no, it was just Fred. But that wasn't entirely accurate, was it? She could never be _just Fred. _She was so much more... She took a few steps in.

"Hey, Wes. Harmony said you wanted to talk?" Wesley looked at her, confused.

"What?"

"Yeah, Harmony came up to me after you left and said that you wanted me to go to your apartment, and that you wanted to talk with me about something you found with that goblet."

"Harmony?" then he remembered something "Oh. Of course. The First... She is technically dead, after all."

"Um... What?"

"Never mind."

"Uh... 'Kay." then she noticed the gun in his hand. "What's that for?"

He looked down at the gun as if he had forgotten he was holding it. Instead of answering he quietly said "I could have hurt you."

"What are you talking about?" Fred asked, confused.

"I tracked you through the Hyperion. If Gunn hadn't come…" Fred realized what he was talking about.

"Oh. That thing with Billy. Wesley, that happened two years ago. And besides, I told you. It wasn't your fault. Billy made you do those things, and Billy's dead now."

"Who says that Billy needs to be around to make me hurt you? My father wasn't influenced by a demon, and he still terrorized me for eighteen years." Fred shook her head, and then said firmly

"No, Wesley. You are _not_ your father."

"You don't know that!"

"Yes, I do!"

"How?! How do you know that? If I had hurt you that night Fred, I would never have forgiven myself!"

"Which is what makes you better than him! Would he have cried and beat himself up for days just because he _almost_ hurt someone?" Wesley sighed.

"It wasn't just _someone_ I almost hurt, Fred. It was you."

"Well, why I am any different? Because I'm one of your friends?"

"No, it's not just that, it's..." Wesley suddenly found he couldn't speak.

"What? Why am I any different than Angel, or Cordy, or Gunn, or Lorne, or any of your other friends? Because I'm the other booky-sciencey person in the group? Because-"

"Because I'm in love with you!"


End file.
